Lime Kilns

In building a city, such as Brigham City, one of the critical items to have in supply was lime.  Lime was needed for mortar, for whitewash, and for a number of other uses, such as keeping down the odor in privies.

Thus, a source of lime was a necessity in every pioneer community, and lime kilns (see also here)were among the earliest industries erected at the founding of Utah's communities.

Here is a large four-bay lime kiln in the foothills east of Salt Lake City.  It was restored some years ago, and, though largely unknown, and off the beaten path, is still accessible to the history-oriented hiker.

This lime kiln, recently restored, is found in Ogden Canyon.

Photograph Copyright Frederick M. Huchel

This unrestored lime kiln is located just north of Richfield.

This lime kiln was build by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, on a never-used branch built near Cleveland, Utah.

The mountains to the north and to the east of Brigham City contain a great deal of gray Mississippian limestone "deposited in fairly deep water far from land." (Halka Chronic, Roadside Geology of Utah, p. 156, quoted in Frederick M. Huchel, A Traveler's Guide to Utah Along Scenic, Historic U. S. Highway 89, p. 230.)

Brigham City had its own lime kilns.  Just as one leaves Mantua, going up the canyon toward the summit, on U. S. Highway 89, stood the Sheffield Lime Kiln, here photographed by this blogger in 1976.  The structure was obliterated with the widening of the highway in the early 1990s.

"Two and a half miles down from the summit, on the left side of the road was the old Sheffield Lime Kiln. In the early days of Brigham City, James Sheffield built a kiln here to burn the abundant limestone for building lime used in mortar and plaster. By 1990, the kiln's rockwork had crumbled to the point that it was in serious danger of tumbling into the gully. It was obliterated when the road was widened in the mid 1990s." (Frederick M. Huchel, A Traveler's Guide to Utah Along Scenic, Historic U. S. Highway 89, p. 260.) 41d 31m 14.10s N, 111d 56m 32.34s W

Sheffield Lime Kiln  Copyright Frederick M. Huchel

The Brigham City United Order Lime Kiln survives.  It is located north of Brigham City, on the North String road (Utah Highway 38 - renamed from Highway 69, because the road signs kept being stolen), between Brigham City and Harper Ward.

The Brigham City United Order Lime Kiln,

photographs Copyright Frederick M. Huchel

The Original Four Ward Chapels

On August 19, 1877, Brigham Young divided the Brigham City Ward into four wards.  It was his custom, as he organized towns into wards throughout the Utah Zion, to place the First Ward in the south-east corner of town, and then proceed in a clock-wise direction, the same way he did (following Joseph Smith's instructions) in laying temple corner-stones.

The wards then went to work building their individual chapels.  The original First Ward Chapel remains, though it is no longer in the hands of the Church (the rock portion is the original building).

The original First Ward building

Copyright Frederick M. Huchel

The original Second Ward chapel received additions throughout the years.  Eventually, it was sold and became the offices of the Box Elder School District.  It is now in private hands.  The original section is clearly visible.

The Original Second Ward building

Copyright Frederick M. Huchel

The original Third Ward chapel was razed in the early years of the twentieth century.  No photograph is known of this building.  A conjectural artist's reconstruction of the old chapel does exist.

What the original Third Ward building may have looked like.

The original Fourth Ward Chapel was superseded by a new building in the 1890s, at the opposite end of the block, and became the recreation hall.  It was finally torn down when the new Eighth Ward chapel was built in the early 1950s.

The Original Fourth Ward building

Author's collection

 

 

Three of the original ward buildings were replaced in the 1890s.  The First and Fourth wards built new buildings.  The Second Ward added onto its original building, in 1890.

 

 

 

The Third Ward waited until 1912, and built a grand new chapel under the direction of Bishop Lorenzo Stohl.



The Box Elder County Court House

The Box Elder County Court House was built in 1857. It was the first public building in the city. Before the walls were fully built, a strong wind knocked down a portion of the structure. It was quickly re-built. Beside being used as a court house, it was used for church meetings, and the basement was used for dramatic productions.

In 1887, the Court House was remodeled, and given a fine Italiante exterior, with a stately tower. A clock was purchased for the tower, at a cost of $433.15. When Utah became a state, in January, 1896, so the story goes, the bell in the tower was rung so hard it cracked. The county borrowed a bell from the city of Corinne. It was hung in the tower.

In 1909, a large, front section was added to the front of the Court House. When its dome was built, the tower of the old section was removed. The bell was simply lowered into the rafters and roofed over. There it remained for a century.  This author saw it, lodged in the roof beams, in the 1960s.  In the image below, note the addition is being built on the front of the courthouse.  The 1880s clock tower on the original section has not yet been removed.

 

 

Claims have been made that the Cache County court house, built in 1892-1893 (according to the Cache County Visitors’ Bureau), or 1883 (according to the pamphlet "Logan’s Historic Main Street." See also A History of Cache County, 1997, p. 88) was the oldest functioning court house in the state of Utah. That is patently not true. When the new court house was built, and the old court house no longer served as either court house or county offices, the claim changed to "the oldest public building in the state of Utah still in use" ("Logan's Historic Main Street.")

Let us look at some dates.

As it turns out, the original Tooele County Court House was built in 1867 (A History of Tooele County, 1998, p. 56), and is today still standing, and being used as a public building: a museum.  See here and here.

The old Washington County Court House in St. George, completed in 1870 (A History of Washington County, 1996, p. 69) still stands. After its time as courthouse ended in 1960, it continued to be a public building, now housing the visitors’ bureau, just like the old Cache County court house does today.  See here.

The old Beaver County Court House was built in 1882 (A History of Beaver County, 1999, p. 142), a year before oldest section of the Cache County court house. It is being used today as a museum and visitor center, like the old Cache County court house.  See here.

If the argument is made that the Box Elder Court House doesn’t count because of its 1909 addition, then, to be fair, the Cache County court house received large additions in the 1890s and in 1915. If we, then, date it to its latest addition, then the Garfield County Court House, in Panguitch, finished in 1908 (A History of Garfield County, 1998, p. 209), and "still being used for its original purpose" is older.  See here.

So is the Piute County Court House in Junction, built in 1903 (A History of Piute County, 1999, pp. 203-204), though today it is in private hands.  See here.

The Summit County Court House in Coalville was built in 1903-1904 (A History of Summit County, 1998), p. 187). It is still being used for all its original functions, and thus predates the 1915 Cache court house.  See here.

The old Salt Lake City Hall, called Council Hall, was the seat not only of Salt Lake City government, but also the Territorial legislature, from its completion in 1866.  See here.

It was used until completion of the City County Building in 1894 (see here).  In the 1960s, it was moved to capitol hill.  Council Hall is, today, being used as a visitors’ bureau (see here), just like the main use of the old Cache court house.  Even the 1894 City County Building (see here and here) is older than the 1915 date of the latest addition to the Cache County court house.

Perhaps the very oldest public building in the state of Utah is the old Territorial State House in Fillmore, built between 1852 and 1855.

What stands today is one wing of the projected structure.  See here and here.

When the state capitol building was being renovated, Governor Jon Huntsman, whose family comes from Fillmore, used the Territorial Statehouse as a Utah state public building, to deliver the state of the state address, in 2005, making it Utah's oldest public building used for its original purpose.

The claim that the Cache County court house, even after it ceased being the county court house, was the oldest public building in use in the state of Utah proved to be so egregiously untrue that the story was carefully altered to "the oldest county building in Utah still being used for its original purpose." It houses the visitors’ bureau, and the county attorney’s office, and hosts meetings of county officials. That is a small part of its original purpose.

The Box Elder County Court House remains far and away the oldest county court house in Utah, originally built in 1857. Its large addition was in 1909, six years before the last addition to the Cache County structure. The Box Elder County Court House still house the county commission, the county recorder and assessor and the other county offices. It remains the oldest county courthouse in Utah still being used for its original purpose.  See here.

Anyone who would claim otherwise does so in the face of a contrary reality.

The three top black-and-white images are from the author's collection.  The bottom image of the Box Elder County Courthouse, as well as that of the old Cache County court house, are coprighted by the author.  The remainder come from the world wide web, and are assumed to be in the public domain.

Old Box Elder

The text of Frederick M. Huchel's presentation in the Box Elder Tabernacle, July 19, 2014, is now available as a booklet, with more than 44 illustrations.  The illustrations alone make it an apt reading companion for the novel Box Elder.

 

 

It is available at the Frithurex Press website.  Please click here.

Brigham City Pioneer Day Gathering, 2014

On Saturday evening, July 19, 2014, people from Brigham City and surrounding communities gathered in the historic Box Elder Tabernacle for an evening of music and history.  The music was entertaining and well done.  The presentation of the evening was by Frederick M. Huchel, who entitled his remarks "Old Box Elder."

 

This is a photograph taken during the presentation.  Frederick Huchel is at the podium.  Mark B. Forsgren is seated to the left, in a chair made by his great grandfather, Oscar Forsgren.  Mark's great great grandfather, Peter Adolph Forsgren, one of Brigham City's earliest pioneers, sat on the same chair as Box Elder Stake Patriarch.

 

 

In this photograph, of the funeral of stake president Charles Kelly, patriarch Peter Adolph Forsgren is sitting in the chair make by his son, to the left of the podium, with his magnificent long white beard.

 

Frederick M.  Huchel's presentation, "Old Box Elder," has been published as a pamphlet, with over 44 illustrations.  It is available at lulu.com/spotlight/Ripliancum.

2014 Pioneer Day Tabernacle Program

Pioneer Day Program, 2014

The author of Box Elder, Frederick M. Huchel, has been asked to be the keynote speaker at the 2014 Pioneer Day program in the historic Box Elder Stake Tabernacle.

The meeting will be held on Saturday, July 19, 2014, at 6:30 p.m.

Mr. Huchel will has entitled his remarks, "Old Box Elder."

He will speak of the pioneers who came to Box Elder, beginning in 1850. The speech will highlight several of the founding pioneers of Box Elder, and tell poignant incidents in the history of the community.

This occasion will mark the publication and release of the book, Box Elder.

All interested persons are invited.

Purchasing Information

To Purchase a copy of Box Elder, click on the link below:

www.lulu.com/spotlight/Ripliancum

The Woolen Mill in 2013

Photographs of the Baron Woolen Mill, taken in 2013, show the mill before the latest fire.

In the closeup image below, we can see the original rock structure of the mill from 1870, a portion of the red brick rebuild from 1878, and the yellow brick additions after the 1950 fire.

This photograph, taken through a window, shows the original part of the mill, with the equipment which remained at the time the photograph was taken.



The Brigham City Woolen Factory

The Brigham City Woolen Factory was built in 1870, and began operation on February 4, 1871, with thirty-two workers. As a result of the Civil War, cotton for warp threads on the large looms was scarce, and so the Brigham City coöperative started a cotton farm on the Virgin River at Washington, just upstream from St. George. The cotton farm was named Camp Lorenzo.  The unfinished walls of the Camp Lorenzo headquarters building were still standing when visited by this author in the 1981.

The never-finished dormitory building at Camp Lorenzo

Photograph Copyright 1981 Frederick M. Huchel

Wool is extremely flammable, and the woolen factory caught fire and burned in 1877. It was rebuilt, larger and better, and ran into the late 1880s, when the United Order disbanded. 

 The Rebuilt Mill, 1878
Public Domain

The superintendent of the mill, James Baron, moved operations to Hyrum. In 1907, the mill burned again. In 1915, Mr. Baron rebuilt the mill, and returned the operation to Brigham City. The mill burned again in 1950. The Baron family rebuilt the mill, larger, stronger, and better. This time, they built the offices as a separate structure, to prevent loss of records should another fire consume the mill.

The 1950 Fire
From Through the Years, 1953

The grandsons of James Baron, Lowell, Dale, and Rex (Brother Glen had retired from the business), sold the business in 1988. Mismanagement brought bankruptcy to the new owner. Another owner tried mightily to bring the business back, but in the end, was not successful. The building has sat empty since about 2003. (KSL.com, June 30, 2014).

Then, on Sunday evening, June 29, 2014, a five-alarm fire destroyed the empty woolen mill.

Photographs posted at KSL.com

As it turns out, the fire was not caused by the arsonist who destroyed the grist mill and the planing mill. It was started by a teenager from California, according to his confession, accidentally (see KSL.com, July 8, 2014.  See also here).

So, the woolen mill, the last remaining of the Brigham City coöperative industries, was the last to fall to destruction. It burned, in June, 2014, for the fourth — and likely final — time. Our historical resources from Brigham City’s pioneer days are fast disappearing.

The Charles W. Nibley home

When Charles and Rebecca Nibley set up housekeeping after their marriage, they moved into a little adobe house on the corner of Young Street (now First West) and South Street (now First South). A photograph of the house, with a later brick addition on the west is in the Compton collection at Utah State University. The location of the house is not identified.

Photograph USU Special Collections

A tantalizing clue was provided by the view of the building across the street. From the photograph, the building appears large and imposing, much like a public building, and appears to have three storeys. But no large public building with windows like that are known to have existed in Brigham City. It was Richard Watkins who finally located the Nibley home, in an autobiography of Charles W. Nibley. The location was confirmed by checking the Sanborn fire insurance maps. With the location of the Nibley home established, it then became clear what the building across the street was. This writer remembers the home before it was torn down to build the offices of Drs. Smith and Hannum. It was the old William Wrighton home (William Wrighton of peach stone fame). It was not a three storey building, but rather the two-storey Wrighton home, with its tall, central Italianate tower, which, through the obscuring trees was not clearly a tower. Then, Mr. Watkins located a photograph of the Wrighton home, making the matter clear.

Photograph courtesy Richard Watkins

About the Author

Photograph by Craig Law

Frederick M. Huchel was destined to be an historian. He was born in Brigham City the summer Utahns were celebrating the centennial of the arrival of the Mormon Pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. He was acquainted with a number of Brigham City’s older generation, people who had been born before the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869, just twenty-eight miles west of Brigham City.

He grew up in the oldest house standing in Brigham City, built before the Move South in 1858, by one of the pioneers of the United Order coöperative.

His grandfather and great grandfather, on his Brigham City side, came from Denmark. His Brigham City grandmother was born in Brigham City, of parents who came from Wales. He is the quintessential Brigham City pioneer descendent.

At age seventeen, he was the youngest member in the Sons of Utah Pioneers, and, dressed in his Mormon Battalion uniform, carried the national banner at the head of the 24th of July Pioneer Day Parade in Salt Lake City. He was also, at that time, curator of the Railroad Village Museum in Corinne.

In his twenties, he became director of the Brigham City Museum-Gallery, while studying history along with his biology major at Brigham Young University.

He was selected to author the statehood centennial volume A History of Box Elder County. He has written and lectured on Utah history in various parts of the state.

He is listed in The Dictionary of Utah Art and Who’s Who in the West, the prestigious Who’s Who in America, and the Millennium Edition of Who’s Who in the World.
He and his wife, Cherie, live not far from Brigham City.

Summary of the Book

A Hundred years of Mormon history, told in novel form in the story of the pioneer town named for the Great Colonizer Brigham Young. It is a tale of toil, of hope, of sacrifice, of trouble, of lost love, and an odyssey, beginning in early nineteenth-century Denmark, and encompassing a dangerous sea-voyage, a trek to Utah by horse and ox team, Indian troubles, the tense "Move South" ahead of the coming of the U. S. Army, the building of two railroads, the founding of a city, and the building of a highly successful co-operative economic order. It is, besides all that, a testimony of a life lived under difficult circumstances, and the explanation of why the pioneer settlers went through what they did, and their feelings about it all, at the end.